Posted
by
timothy
on Thursday July 19, 2012 @03:14PM
from the on-their-dentist's-advice dept.

hypnosec writes "Google has released the full SDK for its latest edition of Android, Jelly Bean, which was unveiled during Google I/O. Google has already released the source code of Jelly Bean earlier. Google announced through a blog post that developers can develop application against the API level 16 using the new Jelly Bean APIs. Developers would be able to develop apps that will run on Nexus 7 tablets. Jelly Bean is touted as one of the best from Google and it promises a smoother and more responsive UI across the system."

I think that would have been best, but Google probably wanted to get it to retail well before the new Kindle Fire.

Also, consider that this device has access to entire Android market ( the Fire is severely limited in comparison) - Google probably felt the existing Market is good enough until devs get things rolling.

I had and old HTC desire which I "upgraded". It ran hotter than ever after and eventually died. I have the Galaxy Nexus which I can use as a hand warmer in the winter after a bit of use. These bits of kit seem to be made for the version they are released with, little more.

Well, yes and no. You can't just take the code they've released and put it on your phone, since that lacks a lot of the hardware drivers and such that are needed to make it compatible with each phone. It's possible for developers to get it to work on most phones, but it takes some time. At the moment, pretty much the only phones which you can put a fully functioning Jelly Bean ROM are the Nexus phones. A lot other recent phones have already got people working on JB ROMs, and many of them have beta versions

This is confusing. The Jelly Bean SDK has been out for a while now (since around Google IO). The "blog" link is wrong (correct url: http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2012/07/getting-your-app-ready-for-jelly-bean.html). My dev tools already had API 16 installed and the Google APIs are the only thing that saw any updates (rev 2).

The release order changed when Google's need to give certain manufacturers exclusive early access outweighed the community's need to have the SDK prior to the OS release. This isn't that much of an impairment for most developers, and it's a cheap incentive to win over some hardware manufacturers.

However it is funny how the two closed source mobile operating systems give their developer base early access to their upcoming SDKs.

If the Oracle case is any indication, the existence of the patent wouldn't stop Google, and the invalidity of the patent wouldn't stop Apple (like it didn't stop Oracle).

There isn't stopping patent litigation any more than there's stopping street mugging. If you look like something the thug wants, and the thug thinks he can take you, there's gonna be trouble. And in the tech IP world, there are no "safe neighborhoods" except maybe the EU.

Wouldn't it have been traditional for them to make the SDK available before the OS dropped, to make sure there was a base of current apps in place when devices started shipping?

I can only imagine the SDK was available to certain select developers for months, while the Nexus 7 was in testing and such-like.

One would presume so but my, admittedly non-Android, developer impression is that this was a thoroughly 'Black Project', so the only devs with a 'Need-To-Know' would have been at ASUS. Of interest to me is how much tablet manufacturer and developer uptake occurs now that it is out, not that this is a major issue. I would buy it right now, warts and all, without either occurring, which marks a first in the tablet market to date.

Paying horse before the cart before the free people chained up at the back

The latest version of Android is closed for 6 months unless you pay out the ass, launch a Nexus branded device, or agree to lock people in to Google's services.By the time the SDK comes out and the latest version is opened up, the next significant release is already in alpha.

i have a transformer tablet running ics 4.04. It seems solid enough. It is easily as reliable as cyanogen 7 on my phone. the only issue I have had is with apex launcher, which the latest update seems to want to crash and force me to wade through to the applications from the settings menu and close it. Oh well. Really, I've had no complaints. I just wish everything worked. Lots of games for 2.x phones don't want to work. (Gameloft...looking at YOU) Tegra 3 should play everything on the market flawlessly, but

I've had the SDK installed since Google I/O - this is just a "final" revision to it. Really, not that big of a news item. I've gotten tons of updates on my phone that appear to be JB related - which is probably just the dev's targeting this release and testing it still works (And fixing what's required, which was probably pretty minimal)

Well, eventually 99% of the devices will run ICS or later, so time spent developing for it is never going to be a "waste."

However, WHEN you should develop for it is a different matter. An app that REQUIRES ICS is only going to be commercially successful maybe a few months from now when a fair number of phones actually run it - and ICS is already nine months old.

It seems like adoption follows release by around a year or so with Android. Don't get me wrong, I love android, but lack of updates is maddening.

It's not available on the Play store in JB, or installed by default, but you can still install the APK manually, and it still works in browsers that support it. (Firefox, Opera, Dolphin. Not sure if the stock browser still does on JB)

Besides, if people cared about Flash that much then the iPhone/iPad wouln't be so popular. It's nice having the option of Flash on my phone, but I didn't even realise until last week that I didn't have it installed, after having my current phone for 3 months. It's rare that I h

Mine has none of these issues. There does seem to be some weirdness with the touch screen when the screen is awakened by something other than the power button, but that seems like something that can be fixed with a software update. In general, I really like the device.

You do know that android releases are named after desserts/treats in alphabetical order, right? Last release was I (ice cream sandwich), this was J (jelly bean), next is K (Key lime pie). I can't think of too many treats that aren't brand names and begin with J.

Launch speed is still slow, but there is now Intel support for the emulator so it runs faster. Also released today is rev. 2 of the "Intel Hardware Accelerated Execution Manager" which may include some performance enhancements.

I do not think there is a Jelly Bean version of the Intel_x86 system image yet. The newest seems to be an Android 4.0.4 version. Hopefully there will be a JB 4.1.1 system image soon as working with the Intel_x86 emulator is very fast.

That the 4.1 release is out is all good and well, but I'm still waiting for the Swedish wordlist for my 4.0 Galaxy Nexus. Much can be said about Apple, but at least the think about the customers in a way Google apparently never will.